This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Shock absorbers are used in conjunction with automotive suspension systems to absorb unwanted vibrations that occur during driving. To absorb the unwanted vibrations, shock absorbers are generally connected between the sprung portion (body) and the unsprung portion (suspension) of the automobile. A piston is located within a pressure tube of the shock absorber and the pressure tube is connected to the unsprung portion of the vehicle. The piston is connected to the sprung portion of the automobile through a piston rod that extends through the pressure tube. The piston divides the pressure tube into an upper working chamber and a lower working chamber both of which are filled with hydraulic fluid. Through valving, the piston is able to limit the flow of the hydraulic fluid between the upper and the lower working chambers when the shock absorber is compressed or extended, to thereby produce a damping force which counteracts the vibration which would otherwise be transmitted from the unsprung portion to the sprung portion of the vehicle. In a dual-tube shock absorber, a fluid reservoir or reserve chamber is defined between the pressure tube and a reserve tube. A base valve is located between the lower working chamber and the reserve chamber to also produce a damping force which counteracts the vibrations which would otherwise be transmitted from the unsprung portion of the vehicle to the sprung portion of the automobile.
As described above, for a dual-tube shock absorber, the valving on the piston limits the flow of damping fluid between the upper and lower working chambers when the shock absorber is extended to produce a damping load. The valving on the base valve limits the flow of damping fluid between the lower working chamber and the reserve chamber when the shock absorber is compressed to produce a damping load. In a mono-tube shock absorber, the valving on the piston limits the flow of damping fluid between the upper and lower working chambers when the shock absorber is extended or compressed to produce a damping load. As the vehicle travels along the road surface, the suspension system moves in jounce (compression) and rebound (extension). During jounce movements, the shock absorber is compressed causing damping fluid to move through the base valve in a dual-tube shock absorber or through the piston valve in a mono-tube shock absorber. A damping valve located on the base valve or the piston controls the flow of damping fluid and thus the damping force created. During rebound movements, the shock absorber is extended, causing damping fluid to move through the piston in both the dual-tube shock absorber and the mono-tube shock absorber. A damping valve located on the piston controls the flow of damping fluid and thus the damping force created.
In a dual-tube shock absorber, the piston and the base valve normally include a plurality of compression passages and a plurality of extension passages. During jounce or compression movements in a dual-tube shock absorber, the damping valve or the base valve opens the compression passages in the base valve to control fluid flow and produce a damping load. A check valve on the piston opens the compression passages in the piston to replace damping fluid in the upper working chamber but this check valve does not contribute to the damping load. The damping valve on the piston closes the extension passages of the piston and a check valve on the base valve closes the extension passages of the base valve during a compression movement. During rebound or extension movements in a dual-tube shock absorber, the damping valve on the piston opens the extension passages in the piston to control fluid flow and produce a damping load. A check valve on the base valve opens the extension passages in the base valve to replace damping fluid in the lower working chamber but this check valve does not contribute to the damping load.
In a mono-tube shock absorber, the piston normally includes a plurality of compression passages and a plurality of extension passages. The shock absorber will also include means for compensating for the rod volume flow of fluid as is well known in the art. During jounce or compression movements in a mono-tube shock absorber, the compression damping valve on the piston opens the compression passages in the piston to control fluid flow and produce a damping load. The extension damping valve on the piston closes the extension passages of the piston during a jounce movement. During rebound or extension movements in a mono-tube shock absorber, the extension damping valve on the piston opens the extension passages in the piston to control fluid flow and produce a damping load. The compression damping valve on the piston closes the compression passages of the piston during a rebound movement.
For most dampers, the damping valves are designed as a normal open/close valve even though some valves may include a bleed flow of damping fluid. Because of this open/close design, these passive valve systems are limited in their ability to adjust the generated damping load in response to various operating conditions of the vehicle. Accordingly, some valves have been designed to include a bleed flow of damping fluid, such as in Applicant/Assignee's commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 8,616,351. While this type of design works effectively, it requires high precision components that are manufactured with tight tolerances.
Various solutions to the above limitations are presented in co-pending application U.S. application Ser. No. 14/211,318 to Roessle et al., filed Mar. 14, 2014, and assigned to the assignee of the present application. This application discloses various embodiments of dampers that make use of a plurality of electrically energizable coils and associated spool valves disposed in the rod guide to further control the damping characteristics of a damper. The coils may be energized independently of one another, to thus control opening and close of the spool valves independently of one another. The coils and spool valves may be viewed as together forming a “digital” valve. By “digital”, it is meant that the spool valve is either fully open or fully closed depending on whether its associated coil is energized or deenergized. In the open state, each spool valve forms an additional passage for flow between a pressure tube and a reserve tube. A system employing four such digital valves a rod guide assembly would thus be able to provide 24 or 16 different damping states. This provides a means of enabling even further control over the damping characteristics of the damper, beyond what is achievable using just the valving associated with the piston and the base valve of the damper.
While the above integration of a plurality of digital valves into a rod guide assembly significantly enhances the ability to more finely control the damping characteristics of a damper, even further damping control over a multi-digital valve system would be beneficial.